The Swiss populist right became the most voted force in the elections that took place this Sunday with 29% of the votes, a result that surpassed the social democrats (17.4%) who had to be content with the second place. If in the elections held in 2019 the fight against climate change took a large part in the election campaign, this time the priorities of the Swiss have changed radically.
The Center Democratic Union Party (UDC), the big winner of these elections after increasing the percentage of votes from 2019 by 3.4 points, focused its campaign on the fight against illegal immigration and the so-called woke ideology . While the dangerous situation in the Middle East raises fears of a new wave of Islamic terrorist attacks on European soil, high inflation has also hit the pockets of Swiss citizens, however to the fact that the country continues to be known for its very low unemployment rate. Only 2% and even its problems with the lack of labor in some sectors.
Although Switzerland is not part of the European Union, the UDC criticizes the fact that the country participated in the sanctions imposed against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine, because for this party it means a violation of the country’s traditional neutrality, which began in 1815. , when this condition was recognized by the Congress of Vienna. On February 28, 2022, Switzerland made a historic decision by freezing the assets of Vladimir Putin and other personalities linked to the Kremlin. Until that moment, it participated in the sanctions imposed by the EU and the United States, but only partially. Subsequently, the country of Switzerland participated in various sanctions packages.
Analysts consider that these elections were dominated by the withdrawal of identity and that messages against illegal immigration are responsible for the success of the UDC. “The situation in Switzerland is serious, we have a lot of immigration, big problems with people seeking asylum. The situation in terms of security is not what it used to be,” Thomas Aeschi, president of the UDC parliamentary group, told the agency on AFP this Sunday ..
In these elections, the country with less than nine million inhabitants changed 200 deputies in its National Council, the Lower House and the Senate. After the election, the parliamentarians will choose the members of the Government (Federal Council) on December 13, where the four forces with the most votes will share the portfolios.
Tied for third place, with 14.6 percent of the vote each, were the Christian Democrats of the Center Alliance and the liberals of the Radical Liberal Party (PLR).
Within the chapter of the losers, the green wave experienced in 2019 was not repeated and the environmental party had to settle for the fifth position, which would make it impossible for it to sit in the Government. In June of this year, the country approved a law in a referendum so that net carbon dioxide emissions will be 0 by 2050. This drop in votes means that two-thirds of the votes obtained in 2019 have been lost. After knowing the first polls, the Vice-president of the Greens, Nicolas Walder, called them “a disappointment”.
